The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1933. DIFFRENCES IN TECHNIQUE

Hokitika Guardian, 25 November 1933, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1933. DIFFRENCES IN TECHNIQUE

| It is natural to find American affairs j looming in larger proportion thes< I days, for all are awaiting the outconn j of tiie. great planned recovery scheme | American writer has just discusser j in -a quarterly review, some aspects ol \Vhite House technique, and shows ■ up how circumstances alter cases. Ii; particular, he does not reflect in too complimentary a strain on the type of party man to be found.in Congress. Tuere Jiis sweeping statement: "Members ox the House and Senate do not follow the President because tney like his looks or liis manners, or because tiie President calls them by their first names. .Nine-tenths of them, will promptly and without shame, ‘rise above principle’ at mny , time and follow a . President they ( hate, if following him will mean perr sonai security, or without hesitation they will desert a President for whom they cherish affection, if desertion means votes at home. “This does not place American politics in a very good light, and might account for President Roosevelt’s retort to the political group which sought his support, that he vvoud rather live politically by his own deeds than by a power-seeking group’s patronage. The writer proceeds to discuss President Roosevelt’s handling of Congress. Since entry to office, Congress gave the President practically unlimited powers, I “leading the nation in a direction no one dreamed of. Many of the measures passed shocked the ideas of the men who voted for them. Yet, the opposition was both feeble and futile.” Despite Mr Roosevelt’s “personal charm and political astuteness,” he did not create a special atmosphere —but events fell out to his advantage. “First, he had 65,000 Federal offices to distribute to a party twelve years out of office and very, very j hungry. Second, he had a party maj jority of regulars so large as to pre--1 elude any balance of power group. J Third, he had a thoroughly scared i country.” It is said there have been Presidents as personally engaging as ■ Mr Roosevelt and even more politically astute. Woodrow Wilson is named in that respect. He succeeded in his first tenfi with the prestige, patronage and power of his majority. The secon dterm was the national crisis of the world war, and with the disappearance of his party majority, Wilson was completely powerless with Congress, which wrecked his ambitious planning for a world peace at the end of the war. In regard to Mr Hoover, it is averred he was politically inept and not popular with his party leaders in Congress. But following one of his own party, he had no favours to distribute so that he might draw men to him, and at no time had lie a functioning, party majority. It would appear that knowing the futility of Congress, the people wanted a leader with a free hand, and the time was ripe for the leader to appear. This inside picture of American Government is not a plea- j siant one, but the writer asserts it is a frank statement of the true position, j Any other leader would have had the i same opening as Roosevelt—be his policy better or worse. If all this he j true, then we may recognise the P re- i sident as one attempting to do a great work for his country. He is thoroughly democratic, working for the people, and with their support, getting the backing he requires in Con- | gress for doing things constitutionally, j If he succeeds, he will he entitled to j r°nk among the greatest of his con- j freres who have gone before. He is , making a gallant attempt to succeed. ] His personal assets are surely greater ( than the political jobber who can 1 thrive only on prestige, power and party. Let it bo hoped they will command success.

Some elementary knowledge of the law, and above all of the duty of obeying if, should be part of toe education of every oilmen, said Lord Sankey, Lord Chancellor, in a recent speech. .Amid the shilling sands of polities and the clouds of rival ce«nomie theories, the law was a rock upon wiiicli a man in troublous times might 'set his foot and he safe. Its 'greatest task was to establish justice between man and man and to see that obligations, both private and public, whether between States or individuals, were ascertained and obeyed. Their fathers were not the fools that some unlearned people were apt to consider them. He could not, however, praise a. code which never changed, which sought to apply the prineipiles and procedure of a thousand years ago to the yrobems and conditions of to-day. Some principles were eternal, others ephenneral, and law was a progressive science. While, therefore, on the practical side, a study and a knowledge of the law as it stood was necessary for a lawyer to get a living, the merely practical lawyer, however able, was not enough. Our law was not perfect —no human law ever would be —but those entrusted with the care of its administration or of assisting its administration should always be thinking how to make it more useful to their fellow citizens. No one would underrate the value of precedent. The lawyer’s regard for precedent had been ono of the great stabilising forces in the State. Yet lawyers should not be hide-bound by precedent and averse to every change, Above all, the value of research could not bo oer-estimatod, Wise men learned from the experience of ethers; fools from their own. Many so-called new problems were only old ones in disguise. They must therefore turn out lawyers with -a courage to criticise the present and to construct what was necessary for new situations. Probably no greater change in our relationship with peoples oversea had at any period been witnessed than that which had taken place within the last 20 years. Neither in law nor in fact could 'Gibat Britain rely upon a glorious isolation any longer. For good, or for ill, a new path was being pursued. But this was a path with which the young lawyer ought t 0 make himself familiar, and if necessary to warn his fellow countrymen of the difficulties and dangers which might beset it. Ignorance of international law and international obligations ought to be banished from the lawyei s , life.